AUSTIN, Texas – The St. Edward's baseball team managed to take two-straight games from Houston-Victoria Friday afternoon, 5-2 in game one and 10-2 in game two.
Game 1 St. Edward's (10-6) led off the first inning with two runs. With runners on second and third, J.D. Arrowood tapped a grounder to second base that looked like a sure fire out. However the second baseman pulled a little too early and the ball went between his legs as two runners came around to score.
The 19th-ranked Hilltoppers would manufacture another run in the third inning.
NATE TURNER made it to first by way of a bunt single and quickly stole second base. He would come around to score by way of a
GABLE WHITACRE RBI single that made the score 3-0.
Houston-Victoria (8-9) scratched a run across in the fifth inning but St. Edward's quickly answered back in the bottom of the fifth. Wes Harris led off with a double to left field and Turner laid down a sacrifice bunt to send him to third. After a strikeout, the Jaguars decided to intentionally walk Whitacre so that they could have a lefty-lefty matchup against J.D. Arrowood. Arrowood would make them pay as he ripped a single to centerfield to bring home Harris. Shortly after Arrowood's hit, UH-Victoria made a pitching change but Joe Olson snuck one through the right side of the infield to score Whitacre and extend the lead to 5-1.
Victoria would score again in the sixth inning because of a fielding error but Colin Sherrod managed to complete the game for the Hilltoppers and secure a 5-2 victory.
Sherrod was spectacular once again as he fired a complete game and came away with the victory for the Hilltoppers. Sherrod registered six strikeouts and allowed just three hits and two walks.
Game 2: The Hilltopper offense warmed in the second game of the doubleheader, despite the temperature staying at a brisk 35 degrees and wind chill of 28 degrees, as they defeated Houston-Victoria, 10-2.
Hilltopper starter
DALTON BROWN navigated his way through four innings of work allowing six hits, but not allowing a run as he stranded five Jaguar baserunners.
St. Edward's pushed across two runs in the second inning as
KEVIN MAYO singled with one out. After stealing second base and
DYLAN WATTS walked, a wild pitch resulted in both runners advancing another base. However, the throw from the catcher on the wild pitch sailed over the third baseman's head and into left field as Mayo came around to score. Harris would single to score Watts on the very next pitch to give the Hilltoppers a 2-0 lead.
The Hilloppers would add on to their lead with two more runs in the fourth inning as
MILES WRIGHT singled with one out. Wright would advance on a passed ball with two outs and
CUTTER RUNTE worked a walk. Harris once again came through with an RBI single to score Wright. Runte would score on a wild pitch to the next batter to extend the lead to 4-0.
Houston-Victoria made things interesting in the seventh inning as back-to-back singles and an error led to its first run of the game. With runners at the corners and no outs, Davis held the Jaguars offense to one more run as he induced three flyouts to the next four batters to keep the lead to 4-2.
St. Edward's added three more runs in the bottom half of the seventh inning and Harris ripped his third hit of the game to get the inning started. After Whitacre walked,
STEVEN ROBERTSON singled to left field to score Harris. Shortly after, Joe Olson ripped a two-run double to left field extending the lead to 7-2.
The Hilltoppers would find a little more offense as Head Coach Rob Penders turned to his bench in the eighth inning. After Watts walked, Runte ripped an RBI double to right field and advanced to third on a fielding error. Runte would score on a wild pitch to give the Hilltoppers a 9-2 lead. A.J. Hermanson was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a wild pitch just before pinch hitter
RYAN PULSIFER launched an RBI single to the left center gap to score Hermanson from second.
With the score at 10-2,
GUNNAR LUND closed the door on the Jaguars in the ninth inning. Lund struck out the final two batters of the game in his first collegiate appearance.
"It was a tough day to play baseball, but our guys did a good job of focusing and doing what they needed to do to get two wins," Penders said. Penders also spoke highly of his pitching staff and indicated that they were slowly but surely finding some answers, "It's nice to have our guys pitching the way they did today. It really helps us that we're getting into a rhythm now and guys are finding their roles. It'll go a long way towards helping us plan ahead. Our offense is capable of scoring plenty of runs, but it was nice to see our pitchers executing the game plans and taking some pressure off of the offense today."
Penders reiterated that their work this weekend would not be complete without competing tomorrow as well against the Jaguars, "We need to clean some things up defensively tomorrow when we face these guys again. With the conditions the way they were you're definitely happy to get two wins, but we're looking to get after it again tomorrow."
St. Edward's will travel to Victoria as they'll face the Jaguars in another doubleheader. First pitch is set for 2:00 p.m. at Riverside Stadium.
